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MANILA, Philippines — Incoming agrarian reform secretary Conrado Estrella admitted Thursday that lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo would be “difficult” at the moment, but stressed he will be studying it.
Estrella believes that lowering the price of rice from its current rate is very possible. However, he said lowering the price of rice to P20 per kilo would be difficult at the moment given the high prices of fuel and fertilizer.
“If you do serious pencil pushing, talagang paga-aralan mo ano, yung P20 [per kilo] eh mukhang sa ngayon, medyo mahihirapan pa tayo,” Estrella said in an ambush interview.
(If you do serious pencil pushing, if you study it, the P20 per kilo of rice is difficult right now.)
“Pero kung yung mapalapit lang namin ng kaunti, mataas-taas ng kaunti doon at maabot natin, I want to be realistic ‘no… ‘yun lang malapit doon, tingin ko pwede na,” he added.
(But if we can bring the price close to that, even if it’s a little higher, I want to be realistic… and from what I see, if we can just bring prices close to that, I think it would be okay.)
Asked about a more achievable price of rice, Estrella said it would be around P27 to P28 per kilo.
“Siguro hanggang mga P27 [per kilo] nga yan, P27, P28, pwedeng-pwede na ‘yan (Maybe around P27 or P28 is okay),” Estrella said.
“Pero yung P20, eh talagang pag-aaralan ko ng husto yan, pag-aaralan namin ng husto at talagang magsusunog kami ng kilay para magawa natin ‘yan,” he added.
(But for P20, it really has to be studied. We will study that and we will work hard to achieve that.)
Estrella said ways to achieve lower rice prices include a study of seeds and lands used by farmers, as well as teaching farmers about the latest technology in agriculture.
During his election campaign, President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said he will work to bring down the price of rice to as low as P20 per kilo. Following his election victory, Marcos Jr. however said bringing down the price of rice to around P20 is the “aspiration.”
Earlier this week, current Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz said the department has crafted a strategy to achieve Marcos Jr.’s goal as early as 2023.
Cruz said that the aspiration is possible through the agency’s mega farm project.